Controversial project to appear before APA board this year
By Megan Plete Postol
The White Lake quarry project application has been deemed complete and is being reviewed by the Adirondack Park Agency and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
“APA continues to coordinate with DEC on this project and anticipates bringing the proposal to the Agency Board for their consideration in 2022,” APA Public Information Officer Keith McKeever confirmed.
The Adirondack Park Agency is slated to meet on January 13 and 14. The board could vote on the proposed mining operation near White Lake in Forestport. The project has caused a stir among residents and APA records show more than 1,200 public comments were submitted. It is not clear if the board will take action, though the APA’s agenda includes a presentation during the regulatory programs committee. Staff have recommended approving it with conditions. You can view the agency’s agenda and records here: https://apa.ny.gov/Mailing/2022/01/index.htm.
The application, originally filed in the spring of 2021, is to create a pink granite quarry on Stone Quarry Road in northern Oneida County.
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The project has significant opposition from residents of the White Lake area. The Adirondack White Lake Association, a group of landowners, hired an outside expert to review the quarry application. That expert reported the application to be substantially lacking in crucial studies of the impact to adjoining wildlife populations, water quality, and more.
At the APA’s monthly board meeting, held virtually on Dec. 16, 13 residents spoke against the project.
“I’ve been a resident of White Lake for 45 years and have done several projects and had to comply with the rules set by the APA and DEC,” said Sheila J. Cuccaro of Woodgate. “While my projects have had direct impact on the shoreline, being construction of boathouses, nothing I’ve done has had a direct impact on the population, human or animal, much less the environment. We were made to follow the letter of the law but that doesn’t seem to apply to the quarry project.
“During the course of the public sessions we have asked dozens of questions,” Ralph Cossa of Woodgate, stated during the meeting. “Has anyone read the mining expert’s report outlining the many application deficiencies? Has the APA done due diligence on Red Rock Quarry Associates? Have the APA and DEC standards changed since 2000 when a similar application was deemed incomplete? Where is the hydrology study? Where are the actual ambient noise measurements? To date, we have received no answers. All we hear is ‘thank you for your comments, who’s next?’ Our lawyers wrote to the DEC and APA asking that the Adirondack White Lake Association be granted party status regarding this application weeks ago; we have yet to receive the courtesy of a response. So I repeat, where is the transparency? Please answer our questions and tell us what’s going on and what comes next.”
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The FOIL documents on the APA’s website were last updated Dec. 10, 2021.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to add the Quarry is on the agenda for the APA’s upcoming January meeting.
What do the quarry people have to say? Again the opposition is pictured and quoted while there is a media vacuum from the other side.
Thank you for your coverage of this granite quarry proposal, Megan. The APA, adhering to their APA Act, declared the quarry application complete on July 7. To say that action was premature is understatement. The DEC, adhering to their Environmental Conservation Law, declared their quarry application complete on August 9. Yet, even then the application was changing, and neither agency was coordinating. APA got the applicant to agree to suspend the regulatory time clock on 8/19 in order to conduct “coordinated review with DEC.” A bit late ! Finally, a legislative hearing was held by DEC on September 2, but no adjudicatory hearing that would allow sworn witnesses to testify. New information about the Quarry project was slowly uncovered over the summer – which the APA was unaware of when they declared the application complete in July. No wonder the concerned citizens of White Lake and surroundings feel confused and upset. The hasty declaration of complete application despite its everchanging aspects, its insufficient environmental and community studies, its fragmented and the seemingly uncoordinated process of “coordinated state agency review,” and the unwillingness of the APA to call for a full public hearing before a law judge all leave a great deal to be desired.
I wonder how many of those opposed to the quarry have granite countertops in their homes or camps? How many of their deceased friends and family members have granite gravestones? Where should granite come from if not here? I hate to use the acronym NIMBY, but this is a glaring example of it.
My thoughts exactly. Plus I am thinking …
Some of the complainers do construction projects that they deny have no environmental impact but make big bad claims against others’. Hypocrites, indeed.
If you do not want a Quarry in your back yard then buy the property.
Nuff said.